Bayley on NXT TakeOver: Respect and pressure going in

Rolling Stone has a new interview up with NXT Women’s Champion Bayley promoting tomorrow night’s TakeOver: Respect live special on the WWE Network.

On the NXT Women’s Division now that Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte have been called up:

“I see that it has a million possibilities to get so much better. When Paige and Emma went onto the main roster; everyone was like, “Well, what’s going to happen to NXT now?” And then Charlotte happened, and Sasha and Becky and myself – we took it to a different level, and everybody took notice. Now that they’re gone, people expect a drop-off, like “Man, now there’s just Bayley down there.” But there’s so many people that they have no idea about, because I get to train with these girls every day. You see Carmella or Dana Brooke or Alexa Bliss on TV, and they’re working so hard, they know that it’s time for them to step it up. They hear it too; they don’t have to fill anyone’s shoes, they have to take it to a different level. And then Peyton [Royce] and Billie [Kay], they’re going to blow up because they’re so passionate and great wrestlers. And I don’t even have to say anything about Asuka, because she’s amazing. There are so many possibilities with her. It’s a really exciting time for the division, and it’s just going to keep getting better.”

On wanting to wrestle Eva Marie:

“But the reason is because she’s a different competitor and I think we’d have an interesting dynamic. I get a lot of tweets about Eva, and I can’t blame the fans, because all they really know is what they see on Total Divas, and they base their cheers on that, I guess. I’ve never personally had a problem with her; I don’t see her much, but the shows that she has done, I’ve seen her progressing each match, each show, each training session. I know that the drive is there to get better, so it’s up to her to see how far she can go.”

On the pressure going in to tomorrow night’s match with Sasha Banks and wanting to top the Brooklyn match:

“It’s been haunting me every second of the day. There’s so much pressure and we want it to be amazing. But I think the fans will be happy either way; it’s something they really want to see, and they’re excited about it – and excited for us. They know how special it is, and they care about both of us, so I don’t think we can let them down in any way. Fans are all going to have their own opinions, but I hope we show at TakeOver that we have no limits. We’re going to go to the moon with what we can do, and we’re going to give them something even more to care about.”